by Xinhua writers Song Ying and Chen Yu

    BEIJING, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- The head coach of the U.S. men's gymnastics team said on Tuesday that he was quite satisfied with the performance of the contingent in the Olympic final, saying the day for the United States came on Tuesday.

    "So many great performances. It is an incredible day here as we have showed the spirit and soul of the U.S. team. Every one did not give up and I am so proud of these guys. It is just amazing," said Kevin Mazeika after the competition. "We always believe in ourselves. We knew if we kept at it and were tenacious our day would come. That's today."

    The U.S. team led by the Hamm brothers captured silver in the team final of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. Morgan Hamm fighting a left ankle injury announced last Thursday that he withdrew from the U.S. men's gymnastic team for medical reasons.

    That decision came after Morgan's brother Paul Hamm was forced to pull out from the Olympic team at the end of last month, failing to recover in time from a hand injury sustained in May.

    Raj Bhavsar of Houston was chosen to replace Paul. Alexander Artemev of Highlands Ranch, Colo., took the place of Morgan.

    Although in a line-up totally different from those in 2006 and 2007, the consistency of the members, especially in horizontal bar rewarded them a bronze in the team final with 275.850 points on Tuesday, leaving a margin of 3.025 points with the silver medalists from Japan. China won the gold with sweeping and stable performances, scoring 286.125 points.

    The difference between China and Japan is 7.250 points, an almost unprecedented gap in the world's gymnastic history.

    "China is amazing today. Congratulate the Chinese team on their gold medal," Mazeika said.

    The coach highlighted that the routines in high bar was outstanding. "The guys here were nailing routines. High Bar is a high-risk event, but has high rewards. The guys nailed it. We took the bar and knocked it out of the park," he grinned.

    One shining member of the U.S. team is Jonathan Horton who scored 16.200 points in vault, only behind Chinese and Romanaian vault kings like Li Xiaopeng and Marian Dragulescu. The athletes rank the eighth in the men's all-around qualification.

    Mazeika applauded Horton by saying, "Unbelievable is the word I'd use to describe him. I don't know if you noticed or not, but he stuck every single landing, including vault."

    The U.S. team is still full of confidence about their capability. Most of the members said they never cast a doubt on the possibility of winning a medal in the team final.

    Bhavsar told Xinhua in the mixed zone: "Our performance today is incredible. This is the gold medal efforts. For myself, I did an excellent job in high bar and was good in vault. My pommel horse could go better. That is the last event. It is just getting tough."

    On the gold medalists from China, Bhavsar said: "I have tremendous respect for these gymnasts. I am always inspired by the Chinese athletes and impressed by Yibing and Xiaopeng. They are fabulous and deserve to be the champion today."

    "We really had fun with the audience. The ones from America just made us feel at home and let the fire on us. But I love gymnastics no matter with spectators from which country. I am very pleased with the Chinese fans about how much they support their team," added Bhavsar.

    Gymnastics is a popular event in the United States. Many Americans rushed here to cheer the U.S. team up in the competition.

    Don Sellman is a coach of a private-owned gym from Ohio. He told Xinhua that he came to watch all the gymnastic competitions of the Beijing Olympics. Besides enjoying the high-level performances, he would like to record the tournament with his digital video as teaching materials for his students in Ohio.

    "It is world-class competition, so the teaching materials are world-class," said the man.